Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Euro HD's vs Swarovski SLC's

no experience with the swaro but i love my 10x42 HD Meopta. the weight is no issue for me. i like the ergos. built like a tank.

Are the Euro HD's the Meostar or Meopro's?

And in the 10x42's, are you guys running the Meostar's or the Meopro's?

Casey

Euro HD's and the Meostars are one and the same. ie- the Euro's are not Meopro's

I spent some time comparing the Euro HD and Swarovski SLC outside during two different times of the day (middle of the afternoon, and right at sunset) for a total of about 30 minutes.

Man...it was incredibly difficult to distinguish any real noticeable differences between these two. They are very, very similar to my eye. Clarity, brightness, crispness, light gathering ability. Ergonomics, for me, was fine with either pair. I did not mind the few ounce difference in weight of the Euro HD after handling them for a while.

I was really hoping that one was going to stand out over the other, during the low light testing, so my decision between the two would be easier. Or I guess, kind of hoping that the Swarovski was going to be noticeably better....but it wasn't. They were extremely similar. The Euro HD seemed a tad "warmer" also. Not sure if the expert optic testers, consider that a positive, negative, or indifferent. But it was noticeable. Also, it seemed like the SLC's had a slightly larger FOV, even though both are listed @ 330ft @ 1000yds.

Extremely tough call. I do agree that the SLC's are probably a better investment, as they will likely retain more of their value down the road. For the money, the EURO's are a pretty sweet set of glass so far.

Got my 8x32 Euros yesterday. Compared them with my 1st Gen 8.5x42 Swaro EL's. It's really, really close optic wise. Resolution goes to the Swaro but not by alot, and could be just that extra .5 power. The Euros were actually brighter than the Swaro. This disturbed me greatly. Swaro hands down had the better FOV. But the weight and size of the Euro made up for the FOV.

This is definitely good if not great glass at the price point. It truly is 90-95% of the glass of my EL. It's going to cost another 1200.00 for that 5%, and at my stage in life (57). I can make this work. These will be my primary glass for next months elk hunt, and then they go in the truck so I will always have decent glass at arms length.

Those 8x32 Euros will grow on you Lee. I've taken that exact pair to Africa 3 times now, and when hunting creek bottom whitetails. It is really outstanding stuff IMO. Hope you enjoy yours as much as I have enjoyed mine.

Just before I left for my elk hunt 2 weeks ago I finally decided that I needed to part with a gun in order to buy my first "good" pair of binos. I went to Cabelas with 3 in mind; Razor HD, Conquests, and Instinct or Euro hd, all in 10x42 for mostly western hunting.

I walked out with Euro 8x32's and could not have been happier on the trip. For the longest time I thought $4-500 binos were all I needed, the upgrade in glass alone made up for the loss of 2x. I never once wished for more light in the evenings and the size/ weight was ideal in my hands.

Don't overlook the little guys.

Thanks,
Nick

I have a pair of 10x42 meostar non hd and a pair of swarovski slc neu 8x32 that I've had for better than a year now. I know these are not the exact binos your talking about but I think close in age and comparison.
I use the 8x32 hunting almost all the time due to size and weight but the meoptas prolly see more use as the are in my living room all the time for use.
I guess a long story short is I can't tell any noticeable difference in the binos as for performance. I would not pas the meoptas if I could get a better deal on them, I mean compared to what they will bring two years for now

Bino-wise the new Swaro SLCs and Zeiss HT have done the best for me in low light comparisons...and yeah, that is outside after sunset...:)

Meopta (currently) may very well be the brand that gives you the most bang for a buck.

But life is short and all. For me, hunting equipment-wise, binos get the most latitude for expenditures.

I'm very happy with my Meopta 10x42HD.

Well, I have spent quite a bit of time comparing these two binoculars.

The Cabelas Euro HD is very nice glass; extremely well built and IMO optically hangs real well with the Swaro SLC HD.

I just spent the last few days comparing a new 10x42 Euro HD to a new Swaro SLC (HD) 10x42 in a wide variety of situations and varied light conditions, and overall the Euro hung real close. Close enough that I was strongly considering keeping the Euro's and selling my SLC's. But I finally decided that there was enough of a separation for me that I decided to keep the SLC's. Truth be told probably not a $6-700 separation, but I just decided to keep the ones that were overall best. And the Swaro's should be for the price.

So the Euro's are going to go up for sale, and someone else can enjoy the fine optics- and a real good deal on very, very nice glass.